According to her online bio, Margaret Lashley has “been a roller-skating waitress, an actuarial assistant, an advertising copywriter, a real estate agent, a house flipper, an organic farmer, and a traveling vagabond/truth seeker. But no matter where I’ve gone or what I’ve done, I’ve always felt like a weirdo.”
Lashley, a native of Florida, has traveled the world and learned a lot about herself in the process.
She is the author of the Val Fremden Mystery Series, Freaky Florida Mystery Adventures and the Mind’s Eye Investigators series.
“In some ways, I’m a lot like Val Fremden,” Lashley wrote on Bookbub.com. “My books featuring Val are not autobiographical, but what comes out of her mouth was first formed in my mind, and sometimes the parallels are undeniable. I drink TNTs. I once had a car like Shabby Maggie. And I’ve started my life over four times, driving away with whatever earthly possessions fit in my car. And, perhaps most importantly, I’ve learned that friends come from unexpected places.”
Lashley lives in St. Petersburg, FL
Florida Books by Margaret Lashley
Glad One: Crazy is a Relative Term
Published: 2017A Midlife Meltdown Leads to Southern-Fried Mayhem in this Hilarious Accidental Thriller!After being duped out of her life savings in Germany, Val Fremden retreats home to Florida with more than just her pride in tatters. At 45, she’s broke, divorced, and virtually unemployable. Starting over will be tough enough. But…Read More
Categories: Humorous Fiction , Margaret Lashley , Val Fremden Midlife Mysteries
Two Crazy: Fickle Finger of Fate
Published: 2017What Do You Do when Life Gives You the Finger?When you’re pushing 50 with an industrial bulldozer, birthdays can be a real pain. What was intended as a gag gift from Val’s boyfriend ends up making her gag all right – and lands her in a whole heap of trouble…Read More
Categories: Humorous Fiction , Margaret Lashley , Val Fremden Midlife Mysteries
Three Dumb: Wheelin’ & Dealin’
Published: 2017Baloney and Cheesed-Off.They say three’s the charm. But charming isn’t Val’s style.Val Fremden is a lot of things. Quirky. Jaded. Disaster prone. But more than anything, she’s afraid of commitment.When boyfriend Tom tells her he loves her – then trades away her mom’s ashes for a tiki hut – Val’s…Read More
Categories: Humorous Fiction , Margaret Lashley , Val Fremden Midlife Mysteries
What Four: Family Fruitcake Frenzy
Published: 2017Most Definitely Contains Nuts. All Val wants is a quiet holiday away from her oddball family. But that just ain’t gonna happen. After a close brush with a crazy cousin in St. Pete, Val and her boyfriend Tom travel to Hicksville to find the annual “Family Fruitcake” competition already well…Read More
Categories: Humorous Fiction , Margaret Lashley , Val Fremden Midlife Mysteries
Five Oh: Fifty is the New F-Word
Published: 2017Ever Notice How a Wedding Ring and a Noose are the Same Shape?Val’s always been unlucky at love – and a whole bunch of other things. But she’s never actually felt cursed. Until now.When fiancé Tom plans a romantic getaway and can’t go, one of Val’s pals goes instead. On…Read More
Categories: Humorous Fiction , Margaret Lashley , Val Fremden Midlife Mysteries
Six Tricks: Doggone Disaster
Published: 2018I got a dog for my boyfriend. It was a good trade.When Val’s forced to take up dog-sitting as a second career, she runs into one tiny snag.She’s afraid of dogs.In fact, the only thing she’s more afraid of is Tom moving in and wrecking her Sweatpants Saturdays. With neighbor…Read More
Categories: Humorous Fiction , Margaret Lashley , Val Fremden Midlife Mysteries
Seven Daze: Redneck Rendezvous
Published: 2018You can’t fix stupid with duct tape. But you can muffle the sound.When Val tries to revive her old writing career, story ideas prove as elusive as a moment alone without her boyfriend Tom breathing down her neck.Tom’s moved in, and Val’s itching to move out – at least temporarily.…Read More
Categories: Humorous Fiction , Margaret Lashley , Val Fremden Midlife Mysteries
Figure Eight: Yard-Sale Karma
Published: 2018Old habits die hard. But old lounge chairs die harder.Val can’t solve all the world’s problems, so she’s settled on two: smashing every tacky figurine on the planet…and ridding the universe of her boyfriend’s hideous Barcalounger. During a neighborhood yard sale, the fate of Tom’s beloved chair comes down to…Read More
Categories: Humorous Fiction , Margaret Lashley , Val Fremden Midlife Mysteries
Cloud Nine: When Pigs Fly
Published: 2018Change happens. Even when it doesn’t make any cents.Planning for a rainy day has never been Val’s forte. But when a storm brews up right in her own backyard, Val’s forced to get off her lounge chair and spring into action. A shady, ham-fisted developer’s threatening to knock down Val’s…Read More
Categories: Humorous Fiction , Margaret Lashley , Val Fremden Midlife Mysteries
Moth Busters
Published: 2019The Truth is Out There … Way WAY Out There… Growing up in backwoods Florida, Bobbie Drex has seen it all – from two-headed turtles to two-timing boyfriends. Her life of hard knocks has left her short on cash, but she’s still packing enough snark to give any whack-job a…Read More
Categories: Freaky Florida Mystery Adventures , Humorous Fiction , Margaret Lashley
Dr. Prepper
Published: 2019Nothing Can Prepare You to Meet the Preppers … All Bobbie Drex wanted was something normal—a new career as a private investigator. But after signing up with Nick Grayson to complete her internship, nothing normal has happened since. In fact, when Grayson gets a call about a possible alien invasion…Read More
Categories: Freaky Florida Mystery Adventures , Humorous Fiction , Margaret Lashley
Oral Robbers
Published: 2020Florida. Where Weird goes to Die. What better place than the Sunshine State for dark souls to live out their golden years? After all, who would notice? Uh … Bobbie and Grayson, of course. As a rogue physicist turned conspiracy chaser, Grayson’s motto is, “Have sentience, will travel.” As a…Read More
Categories: Freaky Florida Mystery Adventures , Humorous Fiction , Margaret Lashley
Ape Shift
Published: 2020Just How Great is that Ape, Anyway? When Bobbie and Grayson go on the hunt for the legendary Florida Skunk Ape, there’s more than one tangled mystery afoot. Grayson, the man Bobbie’s hung her life and career on, is every bit as evasive as the creature they’re tracking. At the start of…Read More
Categories: Freaky Florida Mystery Adventures , Humorous Fiction , Margaret Lashley
Weevil Spirits
Published: 2020Things that Go “Cheap” in the Night … When Grayson and Bobbie head to the Florida Panhandle to witness a spectacle of nature, they take a wrong turn and quickly find themselves up to their armpits in arthropods. And that’s the good part of their vacation. Campers are disappearing without a trace…Read More
Categories: Freaky Florida Mystery Adventures , Humorous Fiction , Margaret Lashley
Scatman Dues
Published: 2021When Bobbie and Grayson head back to Plant City to help out some old friends, they run into a “hole” new set of problems. While investigating a rash of missing persons, it’s not long before they get under each other’s skin. What’s making them all hot and bothered? Each other.…Read More
Categories: Freaky Florida Mystery Adventures , Humorous Fiction , Margaret Lashley